Introduction
The entire Pesticide Data Programme (PDP) database is stored in the CARES NG® platform. This database contains data about pesticide residues on agricultural commodities in the U.S. food supply; please refer to the section The PDP database for more information.
The PDP database represents a vast source of real data on the pesticide concentrations in the foods consumed by the U.S.A. population; its use in the dietary assessments would certainly improve the accuracy of the exposure analyses.
The PDP data cannot be used directly in a dietary assessment because of the large quantity of data and complex structure; the PDP data must be appropriately filtered, selected and restructured before being imported into the dietary assessments. The PDP tool performs the data manipulation processes required to transform the PDP data into a form which is usable in CARES NG® dietary assessments.
How to access the PDP tool
In the File System Manager, browse to the My Data folder, Group Data folder or any subfolder. Click on 
and select Residue From PDP in the dropdown list.
You are now inside the PDP tool. The PDP tool consists of a pre-populated table, as shown in the below picture, which contains a summary of the PDP data recorded in the database grouped by:
- Chemical name and CAS number
- Sampled year
- Commodity
The other columns of the PDP tool contain summary statistics for each group of data:
- Number of detected values, i.e. the number of samples with have a positive concentration value
- Number of samples
- Minimum and maximum concentration values
- Minimum and maximum Limit of Detection (LOD) values
How to use the PDP tool
The PDP tool selects the subset of PDP data to be used in an exposure assessments and stores it in a Residue Concentration table, ready to be used in the assessment. In order to do this, follow these steps:
- Click on the Filter icon
which can be found in the top left corner of the table or in the View dropdown menu in the top right corner - Use the filters to select the subset of PDP data of interest. Any column can be filtered to refine the data selection.
- Once all selections are applied, the data can be saved in two ways:
- Click on
if you want to store all the selected data into a unique residue concentration table - If you want to create a table for each selected commodity click on
beside the Create file from filter button and then on 
- Click on
- You are now back on the PDP tool; the data selection you have been previously made has been preserved. You can now keep working in the PDP tool starting from what you have done before
- Click on
in the top left corner of your screen if you wish to exit the PDP tool
Create file from filter
If you have selected this option, the system presents you a popup window, as shown in the picture below, that asks you to provide a name for the new residue concentration table that will be created with the selected PDP data.
A default table name is provided; if you want to keep it unchanged, click on . Otherwise, type the name you want to give to the table into the text input field and click on .
Create Multiple Files From Filter
This option creates a residue concentration table for each selected commodity; all these tables are saved in the same folder and are named with the name of the folder followed by the name of the commodity. For example, you have selected PDP data related to the concentration of a specific pesticide in eggs and milk and you want to create a residue concentration table for each commodity. Both tables will be saved in a folder named by you Test PDP Data and automatically called Test PDP Data_egg and Test PDP Data_milk.
After has been clicked, PDP tool opens a popup windows with a input text field, already filled with the default name for the folder. Type the name you want to assign to the folder, or leave the default one, and then press .
How to check the data extracted with the PDP tool
The PDP data you have selected in the PDP tool are saved in a residue concentration table, or a series of residue concentration tables, stored in the folder where you have started the PDP tool from. If you wish to check the data, exit the PDP tool by clicking on in the top left corner of the tool and open the residue concentration table(s) just created.